Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Integration of multimodal cues does not alter mean but reduces among-study variance in avian responses to predators: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Published: 2023-10-26
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Despite a wealth of studies documenting prey responses to perceived predation risk, researchers have only recently begun to consider how prey integrate information from multiple cues in their assessment of risk. We conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies that experimentally manipulated perceived predation risk in birds and evaluate support for three alternative models of cue [...]
When the microbiome shapes the host: immune evolution implications for infectious disease
Published: 2023-10-23
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Evolution, Immunity, Immunology and Infectious Disease, Immunology of Infectious Disease, Life Sciences, Molecular Genetics, Pathogenic Microbiology
The microbiome includes both “mutualist” and “pathogen” microbes, regulated by the same innate immune architecture. A major question has therefore been: how do hosts prevent pathogenic infections while maintaining beneficial microbes? One idea suggests hosts can selectively activate innate immunity upon pathogenic infection, but not mutualist colonisation. Another idea posits that hosts can [...]
Remote extracellular attacks on bacteriophage
Published: 2023-10-14
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Bacteriophages and their hosts co-evolve while exploiting and defending against the other, respectively. Known anti-phage defences prevent attachment to the cell or target phage nucleic acids within the cell; variation in such defences shapes phage host range. While investigating the host range of the virulent myxophage Mx1 among natural isolates of the social bacterium Myxococcus xanthus, we [...]
Inferring the evolutionary history of the Sino-Himalayan biodiversity hotspot using Bayesian phylodynamics
Published: 2023-10-14
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution
The current status of the Sino-Himalayan region as a biodiversity hotspot, particularly for flora, has often been linked to the uplift of the Sino-Tibetan Plateau and Himalayan and Hengduan Mountains. However, the relationship between the topological development of the region and the onset of diversification is yet to be confirmed. Here, we apply Bayesian phylodynamic methods to a large phylogeny [...]
Crop phenology reshapes the food-safety landscape for roe deer in an agroecosystem
Published: 2023-10-14
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Understanding the behavioural adjustments of wildlife in anthropized landscapes is key for promoting sustainable human-wildlife coexistence. Little is known, however, about how synanthropic species navigate spatio-temporal variation in the availability of food and cover that are shaped by human practices such as agriculture. Animal habitat use is predominantly driven by spatial and temporal [...]
Amount of carbon fixed, transit time and fate of harvested wood products define the climate change mitigation potential of boreal forest management - A model analysis
Published: 2023-10-14
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Earth Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Forest Management, Forest Sciences, Life Sciences, Other Forestry and Forest Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Boreal forests are often managed to maximize wood production, but other goals, among which climate change mitigation, are increasingly important. Examining synergies and trade-offs between forest production and its potential for carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation in forest stands requires explicitly accounting for how long forest ecosystems and wood products retain carbon from [...]
Synthesis of sexual selection: a systematic map of meta-analyses with bibliometric analysis
Published: 2023-10-12
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Sexual selection has been a popular subject within evolutionary biology because of its central role in explaining odd and counterintuitive traits observed in nature. Consequently, the literature associated with this field of study became vast. Meta-analytical studies attempting to draw inferences from this literature have now accumulated, varying in scope and quality, thus calling for a synthesis [...]
Agriculture alters the ancestral phenological plasticity to spring warmth in a forest specialist, but not in its generalist sister species
Published: 2023-10-10
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Phenological adjustment is the first line of adaptive response of vertebrates when ancestral seasonality is disrupted by climate change. The prevailing response is to reproduce earlier in warmer springs, but habitat changes, such as conversion of ancestral (pre-human) habitats into cities and agricultural lands, are expected to affect phenological plasticity, for example due to loss of [...]
Same data, different analysts: variation in effect sizes due to analytical decisions in ecology and evolutionary biology
Published: 2023-10-04
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Research Methods in Life Sciences
Although variation in effect sizes and predicted values among studies of similar phenomena is inevitable, such variation far exceeds what might be produced by sampling error alone. One possible explanation for variation among results is differences among researchers in the decisions they make regarding statistical analyses. A growing array of studies has explored this analytical variability in [...]
The ecomorphological diversity of Amazonian stream fishes is constrained by phylogenetic relationships
Published: 2023-09-30
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Phylogenetic history and environmental conditions determine trait diversity of species pools. Stream fishes have diversified into a wide range of body and oral shapes that allow a similarly wide range of functional traits that are related to resource use and phylogenetic closeness. Herein, we analyzed 16 ecomorphological traits of nearly 400 fishes inhabiting streams distributed across the [...]
Best practices for genetic and genomic data archiving
Published: 2023-09-25
Subjects: Bioinformatics, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Genetics and Genomics, Life Sciences
Genetic and genomic data are collected for a vast array of scientific and applied purposes. Despite mandates for public archiving, data are typically used only by the generating authors. The reuse of genetic and genomic datasets remains uncommon because it is difficult, if not impossible, due to non-standard archiving practices and lack of contextual metadata. But as the new field of [...]
Functional trait dataset of benthic macroinvertebrates in South Korean streams
Published: 2023-09-22
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Functional traits are the result of evolution and adaptation, providing important ecological insights into how organisms interact with their environment. Benthic macroinvertebrates, in particular, have garnered attention as biomonitoring indicators for freshwater ecosystems. This study presents a functional trait dataset for benthic macroinvertebrates, comprising 447 taxa (393 at genus level, 53 [...]
Metaweb and its applications in understanding ecological interactions
Published: 2023-09-22
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Understanding the dynamics of ecological interactions is an essential initial step in acquiring a comprehensive understanding of the ecosystem structure and functions. Such knowledge is pivotal in effective conservation planning, sustainable development, and ecosystem management. However, the limited availability of information on ecological interactions, commonly referred to as Eltonian [...]
Time since first naturalization is key to explaining non-native plant invasions on islands
Published: 2023-09-19
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Aim Investigating the extent of insular invasions by non-native species (i.e. the number of islands they occupy) is central to island conservation. However, interrelationships among plant life history traits, naturalization histories, and island characteristics in determining island occupancy by non-native plant species are poorly understood. We investigated whether island occupancy by different [...]
Plant mutations, beyond the clichés
Published: 2023-09-18
Subjects: Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Genetics and Genomics, Life Sciences, Plant Sciences